explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3011: Europa Clipper

2024-11-14T18:43:09Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ copyedits

{{comic
| number = 3011
| date = November 13, 2024
| title = Europa Clipper
| image = europa_clipper_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They had BETTER make this a sample return mission.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|Created by a JOVIAN DESSERT. Please consider deleting this tag too soon, but refrain from doing so.}}

[[File:Animation of Europa Clipper trajectory around Jupiter.gif|thumb|right|The ''Europa Clipper's'' projected course around {{w|Jupiter}}, represented as the stationary green dot. In gold is Jupiter's moon {{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}, in cyan is the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} — the primary target of the spacecraft's study — and in orange-red is the innermost of Jupiter's four {{w|Galilean moons|"Galilean"}} moons, {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}. The spacecraft's track is shown in magenta. Jupiter's largest moon {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} is not shown, but its gravitational pull affects the ''Clipper's'' trajectory. A mission goal is to achieve a 6:1 {{w|orbital resonance}} with Europa by September 2034.[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Ozimek/publication/383115312_AAS_24-433_Europa_Clipper_Mission_Analysis_Pump_Down_Trajectory_Design/links/66bcd845311cbb094938dbd6/AAS-24-433-Europa-Clipper-Mission-Analysis-Pump-Down-Trajectory-Design.pdf] ]]

The ''{{w|Europa Clipper}}'' space probe was launched from the {{w|Kennedy Space Center}} in Florida on October 14, 2024. It is expected to arrive at Jupiter and begin exploration of Jupiter's moons, particularly {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, in April of 2030.

Europa is an icy moon. Water ice covers its surface. Beneath the ice, there is expected to be liquid water, which might contain some basic forms of life.[https://europa.nasa.gov/why-europa/ingredients-for-life/] To sample this liquid, its crust (water ice) would need to be breached.

Europa's surface of ice over liquid water can be compared to the caramelized crust on the popular dessert {{w|crème brûlée}}, perhaps because the {{w|Cassini-Huygens}} probe, after landing on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan in January of 2005, found that its surface had what was described as [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/world-unveiled-cr%C3%A8me-br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e-titan a "crème brûlée" consistency]. The hard surface of the caramel cream dessert is traditionally cracked open with a spoon, and so Randall implies that this equipment [https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/about/ will be used] by the ''Europa Clipper''.

In truth, no such spoon is present on the probe, and the ice-layer would be far too thick to be so easily penetrated by the illustrated size of cutlery. More than that, its course is explicitly designed to avoid contact with Europa (though it will fly through sparse material ejected into space from it) so as to prevent {{w|Planetary protection|contamination by microorganisms from Earth}}. The successful deployment of ''any'' instrument is considered a cause for celebration, however, as deployable instruments on spacecraft have often failed to correctly extend, unfurl or undock, and the craft is equipped with a magnetometer that will be used at the end of a 8.5 meter boom as part of its closer studies.

<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; margin: 1em 0;">
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:Europa_-_Perijove_45_(cropped).png|200px|alt=Europa]]
<div>Europa</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:2014_0531_Crème_brûlée_Doi_Mae_Salong_(cropped).jpg|200px|alt=Crème brûlée]]
<div>Crème brûlée</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center; margin: 0 1em;">
[[File:Europa_Clipper_spacecraft_model.png|200px|alt=The Europa Clipper spacecraft]]
<div>The ''Europa Clipper'' spacecraft</div>
</div>
</div>

The title text expands on the joke by stating that the spacecraft "had BETTER" return samples of Europa to Earth. However, the ''Europa Clipper'' is not a {{w|sample-return mission}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A space probe with two rectangular solar panels, a circular dish of the front, and a very large spoon extending beneath, longer than the span of both solar panels]

:[Below the panel:]
:Good news: NASA's '''''Europa Clipper''''' is en route to Europa and has successfully deployed its crème brûlée spoon.

==Trivia==
The Clipper spacecraft was at one point to be developed alongside a lander, which was later dropped from being part of the same (or very closely partnered) mission. The latest version of the {{w|Europa Lander}} proposal is far behind the Clipper in implementation, not yet even being guaranteed funding.

Any actual sample return mission is currently far into the future of {{w|Ocean Worlds Exploration Program|the related plans for exploration}}, along with the possibility of digging deep enough into the ice to finally confirm or dismiss some of the more interesting theories about the world concerned.

In Arthur C Clarke's novel '''2010''', the monolith aliens tell humanity ''"All these worlds are yours - except Europa. Attempt no landing there."'' Contrary to the suggestion of the comic, no landing or any other physical interaction beyond observation of the surface of Europa is planned.

In {{w|Greek mythology}}, {{w|Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa}} was said to be a {{w|Phoenician}} princess who {{w|Zeus}}, the king of the gods, abducted after transforming himself into a bull. The name of the continent Europe derives from a north-western province of ancient Greece that may have been associated with this legend. Jupiter's moon was {{w|Europa (consort of Zeus)#Moon of Jupiter|named after her}} in relatively recent times. With the caramel cream dessert believed to have been [https://archive.org/details/lagastronomieaug00sabb/page/272/mode/2up invented in Europe], this might be small part of the reasoning that [[Randall]] used to suggests that the spacecraft might encounter crème brûlée, and require a spoon.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Food]]

524: Party

2024-03-12T01:41:20Z

172.70.214.43: I altered the assessment of the identity of the unrickrolled character.

{{comic
| number = 524
| date = December 31, 2008
| title = Party
| image = party.png
| titletext = I wonder what 2008 meme will go bizarrely mainstream in 2009 like rickrolling did in 2007-2008. I accidentally <noun>? Yo, dawg? Place your bets now!
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] plays out at what is, probably, a {{w|New Year}} party thrown by [[Danish]]. (The previous New Year day comic in 2007 was also related to a wild party: [[364: Responsible Behavior]]).

In the first panel, we see [[Black Hat]] telling [[Cueball]] that he has hired {{w|Rick Astley}} to show up at a party for a girl. Cueball, assuming Rick Astley is going to perform a live Rickroll, asks if it isn't a little "last year".
{{w|Rickrolling}} is where one is redirected to a video of Rick Astley singing "{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}" via a weblink purporting to be something else. It was later extended to any situation where the song is used disruptively, such as during a party. It started in 2006 and grew until peaking on April Fool's Day in 2008. Thus, at New Years Eve 2008, the meme was getting old.{{citation needed}} However, Black Hat assures Cueball that Rick Astley is not actually going to sing.

The comic then continues to the now ongoing party and we see the girl in question, [[Danish]], Black Hat's girlfriend, talking with [[Ponytail]] when she notices Rick Astley at her party. Like Cueball, Danish expects Rick Astley is going to sing and Rickroll her. She obviously hates this idea and braces her self for the humiliation of being Rickrolled, but she is freaked out when he just stands there staring at her, but without singing. In the end, his presence alone causes her to hear the song in her head instead, and finally she flees the room screaming, slamming a door behind her. Black Hat has essentially Rickrolled her in her own mind, which is far worse than just playing a song for her, but Black Hat could not have done so without the willing assistance from Rick!{{citation needed}}

When Ponytail asks Rick Astley "what did you do to her?", he begins by saying "that, my dear" and then slowly [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|puts on sunglasses]] before he answers "Is how I roll." This references both Rickrolling and the [https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/115813/origin-of-how-we-i-roll|"that's how I roll"] meme.

Although the identity of the girl Black Hat is pranking is not stated by [[Randall]] (he refers to her as Girl 1), there is a theory that she is Danish, Black Hat's girlfriend. However, Danish would likely ordinarily play it cool and be entirely unruffled by something like this. Most agree that this behaviour is more akin to Megan, as she can assume all sorts of various reactions to stimuli depending on what Randall decides is appropriate in that instance.

The title text refers to the fact that Rickrolling first appeared in 2007 (on {{w|4chan}}) and became viral for over a year. Given that this is a New Year comic, it is thus relevant to ask what meme will replace Rickrolling in the new year, 2009. Although [[Randall]] makes reference to the "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg Xzibit Yo Dawg]" and "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-accidentally I accidentally...]" photocaptioning memes, {{w|memebase}} entries suggest the "Keep Calm and Carry On" meme may well have become the most popular (and most enduring, as of 2013) meme of 2009.

As of 2023, Rickrolling is still one of the most relevant memes from that era. There are many [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFZjo5PgG0 articles] on why that is.

==Transcript==
:Black Hat: And so I hired Rick Astley to show up at her party.
:Cueball: And Rickroll her? Isn't that a little...last year?
:Black Hat: Ah, but he's not going to sing.

:Danish: Hey is that Rick Astley?
:Ponytail: I think it is. He just came in.
:Danish: Oh no. Brace yourself.

:Danish: Wait. He's just standing there. Where's the song?
:Danish: He's staring at me.
:Danish: This is a little creepy.

:Danish: What's going on?
:Danish: That's actually ''Rick Astley'' staring at me.
:Danish: What's he doing?
:Danish: Oh God, I keep expecting it, hearing it in my head.

:[Danish pulls at her hair.]
:Danish: Just do it already!
:[Danish runs off stage right.]
:Danish: AAAAAAAA

:[Danish slams the door leaving Ponytail and Rick Astley]
:Door: Slam

:Ponytail: Mr. Astley?
:Rick Astley: Yes?
:Ponytail: What did you ''do'' to her? What ''was'' that?

:Rick Astley: That, my dear,

:[Rick Astley puts on sunglasses.]

:Rick Astley: Is how '''''I''''' roll.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]
[[Category:Music]]

2898: Orbital Argument

2024-02-24T08:47:51Z

172.70.214.43: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2898
| date = February 23, 2024
| title = Orbital Argument
| image = orbital_argument_2x.png
| imagesize = 448x323px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Some people say light is waves, and some say it's particles, so I bet light is some in-between thing that's both wave and particle depending on how you look at it. Am I right?" "YES, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LIGHT WAVE-EARTH BARYCENTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, the person in the middle is using the {{w|Argument to moderation|middle ground fallacy}} to try to make a compromise between the two characters.

[[Cueball]] appears to be asserting a {{w|geocentric}} viewpoint, whilst [[Megan]] adheres to a {{w|heliocentric}} one, an argument that has actually long been settled in the latter's favor. [[White Hat]], however, considers it politic to 'split the difference' and declares his intention to compromise with a 'middle' option, to try to uncritically please both parties. (Though it's probable that he may instead just equally annoy them both!)

By one way of looking at it, it happens that he is also correct. Because the Earth and Sun exert equal but opposite gravitational forces on each other, the center of Earth's orbit is not at the center of the stationary Sun. The Earth-Sun {{w|Barycenter (astronomy)|barycenter}} is slightly different from the Sun's own true center, with the two bodies' distances from the barycenter being inversely proportional to their masses. It is around this which the Sun wobbles, in (effectively) direct opposition to the way the Earth rotates around this unequally proportioned midpoint. The equivalent Jupiter-Sun barycenter, meanwhile, is located just ''above'' the 'surface' of the Sun due to the masses involved being not so much different (but still significantly so), and the much greater distance between them.

As each of the planets and the Sun are simultaneously orbiting/'being orbited' (and every planet also measurably pulls on every other, etc, even discounting every smaller and/or more distant body in the universe), the combined solar-system's barycenter is a less simply-defined point (that being more likely to be within the Sun, at any given point of time), which can often be considered to more simply average out to "<each planet> orbits the Sun" for most purposes, and Cueball is therefore ''least'' correct, and it would be a false solution to give his worldview an equivalence of validity.

That White Hat has worded his compromise solution in a way that (arguably) encompasses the deeper truth of the barycentric viewpoint is not treated as justifying his mediating approach. It is clearly understood (by someone who seems to understand the complexities, e.g. a {{w|Randall Munroe#NASA|NASA physicist}}) that White Hat's 'successful' conclusion is just accidental. Which is vexatious.

The title text extends the principle of the comic's astronomical viewpoint down to the correspondingly opposing 'quantum world'. For various well-studied reasons, light is often described ''either'' as particles ''or'' as waves. White Hat's approach would be to give both viewpoints equal credit and suggest a compromising middle-ground explanation. In this case, also, he would have the {{w|Wave–particle duality|correct answer}} but, in the continuing view of an increasingly exasperated witness to his chronic {{w|False balance|"half-and-half"ism}}, not through actually correct reasoning.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[From left to right, Cueball, White Hat and Megan standing. Cueball and Megan are arguing. Cueball is raising a finger while Megan's arms are outstretched. White Hat stands between them, both hands out in an equivocal gesture.]

:Cueball: The sun orbits the earth!

:Megan: The earth orbits the sun!

:White Hat: When two people disagree, the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Maybe the earth and the sun orbit a common center!

:[Caption below the panel]:
:It's annoying when people are right by accident.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2896: Crossword Constructors

2024-02-22T22:08:25Z

172.70.214.43:

The top ten most common letters in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, and the percentage of words they appear in, are:
E – 11.1607%
A – 8.4966%
R – 7.5809%
I – 7.5448%
O – 7.1635%
T – 6.9509%
N – 6.6544%
S – 5.7351%

source: https://www.rd.com/article/common-letters-english-language/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.187|172.69.58.187]] ([[User talk:172.69.58.187|talk]]) 22:29, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

At least one of those "words" is already available
...oreta is a genus of moths: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreta [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.64|162.158.154.64]] ([[User talk:162.158.154.64|talk]]) 22:36, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

: {Yoko} "ONO" was over-played in crosswords a few years back. "ORONO" (university town in Maine) was over-favored by one constructor. Not to mention a sandwich cookie. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:39, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
:: "ONO" has also entered English from Hawaiian, where it means (a) good to eat, delicious; (b) the {{w|Wahoo}} (Acanthocybium solandri), a species of fish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.247|108.162.245.247]] 02:21, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::: Doesn't "ono" also mean "six" in Hawaiian? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 22:08, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
:”Eni” is an Italy-based oil company.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.36|141.101.68.36]] 02:50, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

In contrast to crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?
“Our” crosswords rarely have a single unused square.
And this is obviously easier to compose if you can choose from more words. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.39|172.71.123.39]] 22:48, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
: "crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?"
For a quick overlook, Search Engine "NY Times Crossword", images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ny+times+crossword&tbm=isch
The NY Times puzzles are as dense as commonly seen in the US. Much simpler puzzles abound, and brain-busters can be found, but the NYT puzzles are very typical well-done puzzles.
:I was looking around the internet for an example, and I found this example: https://www.50plus.de/spiele/raetsel/kreuzwortraetsel-1.html
:If this is what you are talking about, Games World of Puzzles calls this a "Pencil Pointer" puzzle. I think technically the name is "Swedish Style" according to Wikipedia. They aren't typically the kind you'd find in an :American newspaper, but I do see them on occasion.
:Generally, the American style ones are less dense than Swedish but more dense than British cryptics.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.195|172.70.175.195]] 00:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Also, American puzzles almost always have rotational symmetry (at least 180 degrees, sometimes all four 90-degree turns)[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 01:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks, 172.70.175.195, that is exactly what I meant. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.236|172.71.94.236]] 14:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

I'm confused, on reading the Explanation, as to whether these words are wanted for crossword ''clues'' or crossword ''answers''. I thought I knew, but it looks like other people might have the other idea. Either:
#In order to fit something perpendicular to several other words, in a dense and/or symmetrically-gridded puzzle, it ends up asking for a (currently) fictional string of letters that cannot be given a valid 'Easy' clue. They're seeking to make "2024 Nicki Minaj hit song (5)", or similar, to become that, soon enough that they can publish the whole puzzle that they're otherwise happy with. Or,
#For a cryptic clue with an anagram/subselection element, they want a way to include, letters that they've found them unable to mix in otherwise. e.g. "Taylor Swift's 'Oreta' with Tenacious D's initial spin (7)" -> "rotated" (ok, awkward example, but best I could back-contrive at a moment's notice... As opposed to something like "Turned a bit of carrot at Edinburgh (7)", which would ''already'' work Ok for the exact same answer), using various typical tricksy and misleading mannerisms of a Cryptic...
#...or both? Being only a(n unskilled) ''doer'' of crosswords, not usually a compiler of them, I might well be missing the details that someone deeper into crossword-lore takes for granted. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.143|172.69.195.143]] 02:01, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:Most likely Cueball and friends are constructing American-style crosswords and want to use ORETA, ENTA, and similar words as answers in their puzzles, so that they could clue them with "2024 Nicki Minaj album", for example. (I imagine that when John Lennon entered into his second marriage, crossword constructors of America rejoiced since they now had a well-known person that they could use as a clue for ONO.) Since the letters in their proposed album titles are common, I doubt that a cryptic crossword constructor would be hoping for such "words" to exist so that they could use them in clues. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.150|108.162.216.150]] 04:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:My initial reading was that these were awkward series of letters that appear within words that they're otherwise struggling to find clues for, but I guess why not all three.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:38, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

did any of yoy check out the new fnf rodentrap mod? i think it ws peak :) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.188|172.69.79.188]] 08:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Should main page include possibilty that there is no intended meaning in these words? {{unsigned ip|172.71.94.236|14:20, 20 February 2024}}
:If you can explain what you mean (I'm not entirely certain, you leave it somewhat ambiguous), you can possibly include itself.
:(Unless you mean to edit the [[Main Page]] itself, which wouldn't be either right or technically possible, as you stand.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.166|172.70.91.166]] 15:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Are there existing albums by the named artists that are like the words suggested? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.107|172.69.6.107]] 18:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:^^^^^That was what I wondered. When I have time I might pop Ed Sheeran's albums into a crossword generator and see what I come up with... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.177|172.69.60.177]] 21:56, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::None of these artists' albums have names anything like the "words" suggested by Cueball and friends in this cartoon. The most unusual names among them, I would say, are {{w|Ed Sheeran discography|Ed Sheeran's albums}}, most of which are named after mathematical symbols. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.102|172.69.59.102]] 05:33, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I think the point being that these are pop-culture artists ('pop' as still rooted in the original 'popular', rather than necessarily the specific subset that defines 'pop music' culture itself, naturally). Even *I* have heard of these prolofic artistes, though I might have miswritten as "Minage" and (ridiculous as it sounds!) "Weekend", etc. I couldn't tell you what their songs/albums were named as (doesn't one of them call her albums a number, the age at which she created them?), but I could look them up. By contrast, some of the other fields wherein such constructed names might be introduced would be a bit more obscure or untimely, e.g. scientific instrument acronymical names on space probes/landers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.117|141.101.99.117]] 13:58, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:For the NYT crossword, there's a good database of clues and answers at https://www.xwordinfo.com. Some (partial) album names that have been used in the crossword in the past couple years are YAYAS from the Rolling Stones' "Get Yer Yayas Out!", RASTAMAN from Bob Marley's "Rastaman Vibrations", Steely Dan's "AJA", Nas's "I AM", Radiohead's "KID A", Alicia Keys' "AS I AM", Kanye West's "YEEZUS", Beck's "ODELAY", ELO's "OLE ELO", and Genesis's "ABACAB". None of these by those specific artists, but the point is more that they're some of the biggest active artists right now than that they're known specifically for making album names with weird letter combinations.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.67|162.158.158.67]] 17:00, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Is no one going to mention "Mr. Weeknd"? The thought of going up to him and addressing him by "Mr. Weeknd" is really funny to me [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 18:12, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:You might get told "No, Mr. Weeknd was my father. Please, just call me The..." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.211|172.70.91.211]] 23:49, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:Mr Weeknd is usually the result of overindulgence on the Friday night.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.172|172.70.90.172]] 09:11, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2870: Love Songs

2024-01-09T05:49:00Z

172.70.214.43: 'NSync's song "Girlfriend" matches the y-coordinate better than Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend" does.

I need to know which axis means “does the ‘me’ like them” because I fail to understand it.--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.164|172.71.134.164]] 23:53, 20 December 2023 (UTC)
:Pick a song you know that isn't near the (X=Y) line, and it should explain it.
:e.g. "That don't impress me much", at centre-top. Clearly the other party is trying to impress (likes the 'me') but Shania is ambivalent in response (she doesn't actually love their being a rocket-scientist, nor hate it).
:"Killing me softly..." is from 'me' having love, whilst "You're so vain..." is actively insulting the other party (but indifference by the target ''could'' be the attitude).
:Though for X=Y items (e.g. "I will survive" - it's declared to be an unamicable but ultimately mutually-acceptable split) the way round of course doesn't matter. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.224|172.69.194.224]] 00:12, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm hoping "I Will Survive" isn't a reference to the Zootopia abortion comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 23:56, 20 December 2023 (UTC)
:Well, some of the (apparently obvious) references I didn't know. First thought about "Girlfriend" was the {{w|Girlfriend in a Coma (song)|The Smiths song}} ''almost'' of that name. (And it looks like there are almost thirty possible songs... not sure how many are covers of others... {{w|Girlfriend (disambiguation)#Songs|under that exact name}}.) Can I suggest that any possible songs that could be confused (but maybe not match the plotted position, being of a different story/tone) be recorded in a "Not to be confused with..." section? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.177|172.71.178.177]] 01:02, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
::At first, I confused "The Shape of You" with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xVigsyoJw "The Shape of Things"]. Whose position and trajectory on the chart would be complex. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 19:14, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

not pictured: Jim Steinman songs, which spend most of their time out of the XY plane. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.109|172.69.214.109]] 00:14, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Gotta say, Perfect is a far better Ed Sheeran song than Shape of You

The fault here is not so much with the axes or their interpretation as with the verb, "to love." [http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~heycock/thurber-only.html Nothing can be done about the verb "to love."] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.62|172.70.210.62]] 04:19, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

(reads comic) (automatically sorts in all "Offspring" love songs) (thanks very much, xkcd, you got me again) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.124|172.71.160.124]] 09:24, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
:Or Rammstein. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.114|162.158.95.114]] 10:21, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

"Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet doesn't remotely follow the narrative in the explanation, but could nevertheless be graphed as shown.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:07, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Why is "I Will Always Love You" higher on the Y axis than the X axis?? The title and chorus seem genuine to me, and the rationale for breaking up is "I'm not what you need." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.58|172.68.34.58]] 15:08, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

I love the way this came out. Mad props to everyone who worked on the table summaries. Were LLMs employed? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 18:31, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

:yes, and it made a mistake. Well, I made the mistake.In my prompt I was asking for a summary of the Song T-Rex from Katy Perry and chatGPT did neither complain nor correct - THAT is their mistake. And several people did not recognize even as it was obvious - including me. 🫣 --[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 23:43, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

In my opinion the Y-Axis of "Girlfriend" does not fit Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend", it should be closer to "Yes" than to "No". The lyrics include "I see the way you look at me [...] I know you talk about me all the time again and again".
If the video counts: The guy ends up without his girlfriend (red-haired Avril) and seems to always enjoy the company and a kiss of black-haired Avril. The video ends with him and blond-haired Avril disappearing into a bathroom stall. Whomever you see as the "I" in the song, black-haired or blond-haired Avril, he seems sorta interested in both, so a "Yes". [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.31|172.71.134.31]] 18:46, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Idea: We could add a column for the year the song came out. It would be interesting to see the year distribution and if it clumps in the late 90s (when Randall was a teenager). [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 19:33, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

It needs a third (time) axis: in "You’re so vain", for example, there's the line "But you gave away the things you loved/And one of them was me" which suggests that the Warren Beatty^w^w male character at least USED to live the singer, and "when I was still quite naïve” might imply the feeling was once mutual, regardless of the current degree of indifference and/or active disdain. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.129|172.69.135.129]] 10:56, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
:That's just the same issue as the Piña Colada, really. What you could do for those (and others) is trace a track leading up to the dot (probably, from whatever history the song narrative describes as having come from). And maybe a short dashed onwards line to where they hope/fear/want/expect the relationship to progress to. Could get busy. And would need (probably subjective) analysis of the full lyrics then work out how best to tweak it not to get a plate full of undifferentiatable spaghetti. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.111|172.71.178.111]] 11:24, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
:While both are past tense, it seems to me that "You're So Vain" is describing history (focused on how we got to the "now" of the song), while Piña Colada is presenting a narrative. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.40|172.69.247.40]] 05:24, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

Something that could replace ''the Piña Colada song'' in the title-text: [https://youtu.be/e-ORhEE9VVg?si=6z7eIea6MglhkTPv Blank space - Taylor Swift] [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)] 20:41, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

Created a [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1jmHBAybLJIULiBYMctN5R Spotify playlist] with above love songs. [[User:Shivank|Shivank]] ([[User_talk:Shivank|talk]]) 10:15, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

'Creep' really should be in the middle of the Y axis. We have no clue how the object of the narrator's affections views them - only that they hate themself! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.161|172.70.85.161]] 12:33, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

I agree with other commenters that the Y-Axis value is too low for Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend." For this reason, maybe a different song with the same title was intended. 'NSync's song "Girlfriend" matches the data point coordinates better. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 05:49, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2841: Sign Combo

2023-10-15T18:15:49Z

172.70.214.43:

Theoretically you can get around this limitation by turning off the road before the sign and doing whatever maneuvers you need to out in the wide open area to the right or left of the road. It's not a U-turn if you're not on the road, and you didn't enter a restricted part of a road either, and didn't stop on the road. After which you calmly make a turn onto the road when traffic is clear. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.207|108.162.245.207]] 02:34, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
:I'm pretty sure swerving off of a road is also illegal. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:41, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
:: You can always just pull over - if a cop asks, just tell him you were lost or tired or had to take a phone call. And then take the opportunity to ask about the bloody sign! Anonymous 07:30, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
So does making a three point turn count as a u-turn? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.66|172.69.58.66]] 02:40, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
Wouldn't putting it in reverse stop you briefly as you switched from forward acceleration to reverse?
:Yes, this is also an example of Rolle's theorem as seen in [[2042]]. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:56, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn Immelmann!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_turn Hammerhead!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_eight Half Cuban Eight!] [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:21, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

You could obey the title text if it was 45 miles per hour and 65 meters per hour, respectively. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.96|162.158.90.96]] 04:04, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

: Perhaps so, but anyone deliberately occupying a travel lane while going 0.06 kph (0.04 mph = 200 feet per hour) in a 45 mph zone would [ahem] rapidly attract attention for other reasons. If it were 65 *kilometers* per hour (40 mph), you'd have a narrow window of legality (I do drive on a road that has a max 45 / min 30 speed limit). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 18:15, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Take notice of the road markings too. At least here in Europe double white lines are not to be crossed. And they go past the point of the sign.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:06, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

I can't be the only one that sees a Gaza strip evacuation subttext to this.

:Double lines are also "do not cross" in America. And I think in this case it's supposed to be yellow, the dashed-and-solid combo indicates a one-sided passing zone into a lane with on-coming traffic, and double lines in general are only use to separate anti-parallel lanes of traffic, both of which use yellow. "Solid double white lines" do exist, but are only used in very specific cases. Near me, there's a very congested exit, and the solid double whites are used to indicate "no really, you should have switched lanes ages ago, it's too late now!", but since it isn't a Jersey barrier or a line of rods or even a full on median, nobody actually follows the rule. Anonymous 07:30, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

:: BTW in Europe, yellow lines are reserved for temporary use, and then take precedence over any existing white lines. Makes lots of sense, because there are so many construction sites here. (And the yellow lines are actually just adhesive tape.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.102|162.158.87.102]] 08:28, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

::: Back when elephants had fur, road markings in the USA were white. Starting in the 1950s, road crews throughout the USA began using yellow rather than white paint. From memory, it took about a decade for the transition to be completed, with more rural roads the last to go yellow. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.161|162.158.90.161]] 18:18, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

Speaking of lines ... in the USA, "Do Not Enter" signs on open roadways usually signal that the road ahead is one-way traffic coming at you. A driver is thereby warned (for example) not to enter the "exit" ramp of a freeway. However, the road striping indicates that passing is permitted for drivers proceeding forward past the sign ... which is nonsensical if the only legal traffic is coming at the viewpoint driver. I am reminded of the ancient comedy routine, "Somebody went to the Army-Navy store, got himself a sign, looked out his living room window, 'Look, Martha, we caught somebody!'" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.118|162.158.186.118]] 19:19, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

And I completely forgot why I was posting in the first place: I think there's good reason to create a full "traffic signs" or "road signs" tag, not just "traffic lights". I know there's a page with a very complicated "this is what the road ahead looks like" sign that just says "good luck", and of course there's "Next Five Miles" and "Ahead Stop". Thoughts? Anonymous 07:58, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
:I would support that. I wanted to put this comic into a category but I couldn't find an appropriate one. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.3|172.69.58.3]] 23:11, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

More thoughts: if you must not make a U-turn to the left, you should do it to the right.
And then return on the same lane, because of the double line.
And finally, the sign itself may be valid and not contradicting itself; it is your fault if you got on this road. ;) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.102|162.158.87.102]] 08:28, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

In the Netherlands, the message on signs are only valid behind the sign (with the exception of the "precedence way" (voorrangsweg), where outside of built-up areas, the signs are after a junction (though technically... way before the ''next'' junction) , so a driver stopping /u-turning here wouldn't be violating anything except the double white lines.
Also, stopping out of necessity (e.g. the car in front is also stopped) is ''never'' illegal. [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 09:06, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

:Stopping on a road with double white lines to your left may count as obstructing the road, which I can imagine to be illegal in many places? [[User:Gpvos|Gpvos]] ([[User talk:Gpvos|talk]]) 10:02, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

If I had to comply with these instructions, I would just put the car into reverse and argue that I was never "stopped". If I actually saw this in real life, I think I'd just slow down, put on my hazard lights, and make a u-turn when appropriate.[[User:Jsnider3|Jsnider3]] ([[User talk:Jsnider3|talk]]) 10:52, 14 October 2023 (UTC

UK equivalents: [[File:UK_traffic_sign_616.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_614.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_642.svg|25px]]
(Mounted vertically, obviously, and the Clearway would have to be the small version as a repeater/reminder, already being active). ...and Title Text would require suitable numeric alterations on: [[File:UK_traffic_sign_670V20.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_672.svg|50px]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.23|162.158.74.23]] 11:51, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

"''Depending on the jurisdiction, signs may only apply to the road after them''" - uh, in which jurisdictions is that not the case? How could you adhere to the signage before you see them? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.196|172.68.110.196]] 15:01, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
: I don't know US signage, but there are times over here in my locale when there's repeater/reminder signage, the situation (such as not being allowed to stop) already being in effect past a prior point. Or even "this is information you, as a driver, should already be able to infer from the rules of the road, but some of you are idiots and need A BIG HINT about something that you clearly have forgotten since the time you had to pass your driving test..." erected by the authorities. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.6|141.101.99.6]] 19:49, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

Since the lanes are separated by white lines instead of yellow, that means that the two lanes of traffic are going in the same direction. There isn't any roadway visible onto which one could make a U-turn even if it were permitted. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.204|172.69.59.204]] 23:07, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
: That sort of thing varies by jurisdiction. White and yellow are common because they work well and are cheap. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.58|162.158.74.58]] 07:30, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Don't minimum speeds require the vehicle to ''be able'' to go that fast, but not actually ''drive'' this fast at all times? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 07:42, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Am I the only one who sees a Gaza Strip evacuation subtext in this? --[[User:GregXKCD|GregXKCD]] ([[User talk:GregXKCD|talk]]) 15:33, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

This is pretty much the plot of every Irish saga, except with geasa instead of road signs. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.158|172.71.94.158]] 17:13, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-22T10:27:00Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2661
| date = August 19, 2022
| title = Age Milestone Privileges
| image = age_milestone_privileges.png
| titletext = If you reach 122, you get complete unrevertible editorial control over Jeanne Calment's Wikipedia article.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BABY GOD-EMPRESS MAKING THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER R-RATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a list of "age milestones" in the United States. As usual for Randall, he has added many fictional entries to supplement some real life ones.

{| class="wikitable"
! Age || Privilege || Description
|-
| 16 || Drive || Legal driving age varies by state in the US. In Randall's state of Massachusetts, {{w|Driver%27s_licenses_in_the_United_States|and in 8 other states}}, 16 is the minimum age to apply for a learner's permit.
|-
| 17 || Attend R-Rated movies alone ||In the US, the Motion Picture Association assigns {{w|Motion_Picture_Association_film_rating_system|ratings}} to movies based on whether content in said movie is generally acceptable to present to minors. A rating of "R" is supposed to prohibit viewing by minors under 17 years of age unless a parent or guardian accompanies them.
|-
| 18 || Vote || The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents a minimum age of voting from being set above eighteen but does not preclude a minimum age below eighteen. Some states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they must be allowed to vote in the general election, but Randall's state of Massachusetts is not one of them.
|-
| 21 || Buy Alcohol || In the US, the legal drinking age is 21 years, although other countries have a lower drinking age. For example, in Japan the legal age to drink is 20; whilst in the UK a person as young as 16 may have alcohol with a meal, although they are not allowed to buy it themselves.
|-
| 25 || Rent a car || Car rental companies charge higher rates for underage drivers; typically the minimum age is 25.
|-`e
| 30 || Run for Senate || This entry is slightly incorrect: According to {{w|Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution|Article 1, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution}}, one must be at least 30 years old in order to ''become'' Senator, not ''run'' for Senate. Joe Biden was 29 years old when he was first elected to Senate but turned 30 before being sworn in.
|-
| 32 || Rent a Senator's Car || This is the first joke entry in the table. For one thing, most Senators do not rent out their cars, which they probably need to use regularly themselves because they have jobs{{Citation needed}} to commute to, and it would be a security hazard to allow random strangers access to their vehicle.

This could also be a reference to the Ambassador, a now defunct car brand.
|-
| 35 || Run for president || In the United States, according to {{w|Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution|Article 2, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution}}, a person must be at least 35 years old to be eligible to hold the Office of President.
|-
| 40 || Rent a flying car || A 25-year-old might be able to rent a non-flying car today, but not a flying car, because the technology is not mature enough to the point where they're available to rent. The joke is that by the time a 25-year-old reader becomes 40, the technology will exist and they'll be able to rent a flying car. Unlike the earlier lines, the limitation has nothing to do with their age, just technological development.
Alternatively, even once flying cars are developed, their usage will be more restricted. For example, young people are perceived to be more reckless and/or otherwise dangerous.

This whole issue may be virtually negated if the newly developed flying cars are introduced only as ''self-''flying cars (an off-shoot of self-driving technology but devoid of many of the dangers of navigating roads, i.e. person-controlled vehicles, pedestrians and other ground-based hazards), in which case the age (or even presence) of the renter may be very much more irrelevant than the nature of any route/destination the guidance computer is tasked to fulfill. The question would then be how much a potential passenger would trust pure electronics to avoid all the actual dangers for what is essentially a flying taxi, compared to a human controller who may be fallible but presumably at least has their own fully developed common sense and a degree of self-preservation as well as any requisite training.
|-
| 45 || Learn about the God-Empress || Obviously, the God-Empress does not actually exist because this comic is visible to people under 45 years old.{{Citation needed}} According to [[1413]], she will be public knowledge by 2040 anyway.
|-
| 50 || Join AARP || Full AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) membership is available to anyone age 50 and over. {{w|AARP}}
|-
| 50 || Get a shingles vaccine || At the time of the comic, the [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/public/shingrix/index.html CDC recommended] that adults 50 years and older get the shingles vaccine called Shingrix (this line was not in the original version of the comic, corrected later)
|-
| 52 || Click to skip captchas || Older people might have more difficulty understanding captchas. Also, they could be more inconvenienced because some older people move more slowly, so it would take them longer to move the mouse, and people would care more about older people anyway. However, this would be impractical to implement because if the computer knew the person's age, it would know that the user is a person, not a bot, so there would be no point in a captcha anyway.
|-
| 55 || Vote for God-Empress || It appears that a person must have knowledge of the existence of the God-Empress for ten years before they are sufficiently qualified to elect a new one. Since the God-Empress is (presumably) in power for life, it is likely that most people would have to wait much longer than ten years.
|-
| 62 || $80 national parks lifetime pass || https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
|-
| 65 || Eligible for Medicare || Medicare is a US government-run health insurance for older people.
|-
| 67 || Collect Social Security || U.S. individuals may collect reduced Social Security benefits starting at age 62, and they can collect increased Social Security benefits if they wait until age 70.
|-
| 68 || See "Skip ads" button on live tv || Some DVRs and streaming applications have a feature to skip over commercial breaks in recorded programs, but this could not be available in live TV, since it would require jumping forward in time. Time travel is currently impossible.{{citation needed}} ||
|-
| 70 || Run for God-Empress || The name suggests that this would also only be available to women.
|-
| 75 || Ride any animal in a national park || The National Parks Service probably could institute this relatively safely because most people over 75 would not be able to run fast enough to outrun/catch up to an animal and mount it{{Citation needed}} and would not have the rebellious/risk-taking/adventurous streak that would incline them to try.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| 80 || Eligible for Megacare || This is based off of becoming eligible for Medicare at age 65.
|-
| 85 || Click to toggle whether an ad is positive or negative about the product ||
|-
| 90 || Click to make any movie R-rated || It is unclear whether this would actually make the movie less appropriate or change the Motion Picture Association's rating to be erroneous. Also, what if the rating was previously NC-17?
|-
| 100 || Get a letter from the president || In the US (which other milestones, such as running for president starting at age 35, indicate is the country being referred to), you instead get congratulated by the weatherman on the {{w|Today (American TV program)|Today Show}}. However, the United Kingdom is much closer. People there receive a card (formerly a telegram, later a TeleMessage) from the Queen on their 100th birthday. (This is not automatic, but must be applied for.)
|-
| 102 || (35+67) Collect a presidential pension || The idea behind this joke is that it is the minimum age of presidency plus the minimal age to collect Social Security. There are several reasons why this must be a joke. Two are that Social Security begins 67 years after the person was born, not 67 years after the person's job started, and that the United States government would not bother to set up such a system because the vast majority of people, including former presidents, do not live to 102 years old. In fact, as of 2022, no former United States president has ever lived to 102 years old. The current oldest former U.S. President is Jimmy Carter at 97. Good luck Jimmy, only 5 more years!
|-
| 105 || Get a birthday card from the God-Empress || Being a God-Empress would be more important than being the leader of a single country. This would make the God-Empress's time more valuable, so she only has to send a birthday card to the few people who reach the age of 105. Contrariwise, the God-Empress is presumptively all-powerful and furthermore capable of delegation of ministerial tasks such as card transmission, so the utilitarian fact that the scarcity of 105-year-old people reduces workload is not a plausible justification.
|-
| 111 || Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring || This is a reference to the Lord of the Rings where Bilbo leaves his eleventy-first birthday party (the Bilbo Baggins Farewell Birthday Party) invisibly by using The One Ring.
|-
| 118 || Vote 100 times || Presumably a joke meaning the person can vote 100 times in each election. If there were one election at the same time each year, this would actually be the 101st vote the person is eligible to cast in their lifetime. If the sole election of each year were held at a different time of each year, someone who voted in every election might vote for the 100th time at either age 116, 117, or 118. However this milestone would happen earlier because there are often multiple elections per year, e.g., primaries, general elections, and possibly runoffs.
|-
| 120 || Collect the pensions of all elected officials ||
|-
| 125 || Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president || This entry references four earlier milestones (attending an R-rated movie, drinking alcohol, becoming President, and getting the shingles vaccine) whose corresponding ages (17, 21, 35, and 50) sum to 123. While not exactly 125, this may have contributed to the inspiration or age selection of this milestone.
|-
| 128 || Age rolls over, become a baby again || {{w|Integer overflow}} happens in computers when there are not enough bits (binary digits) to store the result of a calculation, and typically happens in computers at a given power of two, such as 128. An unsigned 7-bit number can hold the values 0 to 127 (127 being 27 - 1) and an attempt to go beyond 127 will overflow, also called rollover, back to zero. 7-bit numbers are not common native values in today's computers. For the more usual unsigned integers of one byte (8 bits), the correct rollover number would be 256.

A signed 8-bit number uses the first bit to allow the value from the remaining seven to be negative, the value 128 would become either -128 or -0, depending upon implementation. In its most practical form, a signed 8-bit number can hold values from -128 to 127 and when calculating 127+1 (the binary value 01111111 changing to 10000000) the value is -128 due to the {{w|Two's Complement}} method of having the sign-bit represent the most negative value possible, wgich is generally a more utilitarian method than the 'simpler' method of using it to indicate the positivity/negativity of the value. Either way, though, this means you could have a weird experience of your next phase of life, as your age now is interpretted as successive negative values if the incrementing algorithm and the interpreting algorithm are not thinking about the raw bits in the same way, or at least flagging up the overflow as having happened.

However, maybe the system uses just 7 bits (the 8th bit often used to be reserved for parity, or other flagging purposes, and otherwise stripped/ignored) if it has never before needed an eighth bit and this had once seemed like a sufficient form of data-packing with no expectation that this limit would be reached. Computers using such systems would have a Y2K-analogous bug once someone actually reached 128 years old, where anomalous processing might indicate the person to be a baby (or fail in other ways). But that would not have happened yet.

|}

The title text mentions {{w|Jeanne Calment}}, who holds the record for the oldest person ever (there are biblical references to older people, such as {{w|Methuselah}}, who supposedly lived to 969, but their ages haven't been verified). She reportedly was age 122 when she died in 1997. There's some controversy whether Calment actually claimed her mother's records, including birth certificate, as her own. "Editing wars" have been fought over her Wikipedia page. Randall claims that if you match her age you get sole editorial control over that article. However, if anyone managed to exceed her achieved age, presumably they would get their own page (albeit that they should not be encouraged to {{w|Wikipedia:Editing Your Own Page|edit it}} themselves) and hers would cease to be as interesting - although that might depend on what use is made of the unparalleled editorial control now granted.

==Transcript==

<big>Age Milestones</big> 
and associated privileges

16  Drive 
17  Attend R-rated movies alone 
18  Vote 
21  Buy alcohol 
25  Rent a car 
32  Run for senate 
35  Run for president 
40  Rent a flying car 
45  Learn about the God-Empress 
50  Join AARP 
50  Get a shingles vaccine 
52  Click to skip captchas 
55  Vote for God-Empress 
62  $80 National parks lifetime pass 
65  Eligible for Medicare 
67  Collect Social Security 
68  See "Skip Ads" button on live TV 
70  Run for God-Empress 
75  Ride any animal in a national park 
80  Eligible for MegaCare 
85  Click to toggle whether any ad is positive or negative about the product 
90  Click to make any movie R-rated 
100  Get a letter from the president 
102  (35+67) Collect a presidential pension 
105  Get a birthday card from the God-Empress 
111  Leave your own birthday party early by putting on a magic ring 
118  Vote 100 times 
120  Collect the pensions of all elected officials 
125  Drink alcohol in an R-rated movie while getting a shingles vaccine from the president 
128  Age rolls over, become a baby again

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T06:27:20Z

172.70.214.43: Fact edit

2661: Age Milestone Privileges

2022-08-20T00:09:38Z

172.70.214.43: /* Transcript */ ce

2022-07-31T14:53:25Z

172.70.214.43: Reply

Maybe Randall is commenting on this recent article [https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-022-00281-6 Nature Computational Science: Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data]?
02:10, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
suggested by a proxy editor

Might be tangentially related to the alleged Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm, the anti-amyloid therapy, that did show some success in proxy variable (biomarker), but no success at all in curing the disease or its symptoms (no efficacy), but which got accepted with a huge amount of controversy by NDA (which disregarded its advisory committee’s recommendation against approving Aduhelm). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:32, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
: More relevantly, it came out recently that [https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/22/2111914/-Two-decades-of-Alzheimer-s-research-may-be-based-on-deliberate-fraud-that-has-cost-millions-of-lives|the last ~decade and a half of Alzheimer's drug research] is based on monitoring effects in mice on a specific biomarker that ''may not actually exist in humans'', and the initial study was potentially fraudulent. Seems like a damn topical proxy variable to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.249|162.158.166.249]] 00:56, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
:"It’s not much of a stretch to suggest those amyloids are a primary cause of the associated memory loss and dementia," is the failed proxy hypothesis. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 02:47, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

I removed this paragraph:
:''Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists as they provide a scientific way to indirectly monitor or improve the complex systems that affect their lives. For example, blood pressure is a causative factor for cardiovascular disease so it can be used as a proxy variable for healthy lifestyle. However, people need to remember that it isn't necessarily the proxy variable alone that is of concern. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is not the only gas released by humanity with global warming potential and other factors affect climate change; and it is not carbon dioxide but the impact of climate change that will cause major social, economic, cultural damage to the future of the planet. ''
because I want to discuss it. The first sentence needs a source, the second and third sentences claim blood pressure is used by non-scientists as a proxy for living a healthy lifestyle, which I'm not sure about on multiple levels, and the fourth and fifth sentences seem like PR for fossil fuel companies. #notallgreenhousegases Nevertheless, I feel as if there are likely one or two good ideas hidden in it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 16:01, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:I feel like the author doesn't know the work climate scientists go to to avoid using greenhouse gas concentration as a proxy for global warming (all the models of atmospheric water and its forms.) For blood pressure, it's easier to see what was attempted to be gotten at. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 16:37, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Yes: the ones who dangerously simplify the climate change to "we must stop produce carbon dioxide" are not scientists but politicians. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:53, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:Definitely. We don't even KNOW all factors affecting climate change. Still, the link between rising carbon dioxide and temperature looks much more solid that the link between money spent on fighting climate change and levels of carbon dioxide. ... Wait, you didn't wanted to talk about climate did you? :-) (For record, I always though there are much better reasons to stop using fossil fuels than fighting global warming. Recently, for example, the energetic security from geopolitically problematic regions came under lot of attention.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:46, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::I want to talk about climate. Do you think we will be able to transition to carbon neutral and negative technologies in time to avoid the {{w|Jevons paradox}}? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.185|172.70.214.185]] 17:00, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::The Jevons Paradox exists if the only forces affecting the consumption of a resource are supply and demand. If you're asking about carbon-neutral/negative technological process making sustainable technologies profitable faster than fossil fuel profits grow, then no, there's no hope even before the Jevons Paradox is considered. But if other options are considered, the Jevons Paradox doesn't really apply. (To take an extreme example: It doesn't matter how fuel-efficient internal combustion engines get, they'll never be the preferred choice if their manufacture is banned.) [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 18:14, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Only carbon negative technology requires {{w|Carbon-burning_process|5×10^8 K or 50 keV and densities > 3×10^9 kg/m3}}. I think that in the moment we will be using THAT on industrial scale we would be quite desperate. Also, the amount of energy we will need is going to grow unless we reduce population a LOT (like, for example, if all ecological activists would do the carbon responsible thing and commit suicide). Also, more and more of that energy we will need will be specifically electrical energy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:21, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::We need to remove 38 gigatons per year, which is only 0.7 milligrams per square centimeter of ocean. Think of the mean depth of the ocean: that square centimeter is very tall. From that perspective, isn't this an easy biological solution? That's only 0.5 micrograms per minute, from the full depth of each square centimeter of ocean, right? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 20:47, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::::I'm not sure what is the "this" you talk about but it sounds you are only storing carbon, not removing it. BTW, one of best way to store carbon is to make more highways. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:07, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::::Where on Earth would you ever want to build 38 gigatons of highways per year? By "this" I mean genetically modified {{w|phytoplankton}}; in particular modified by changes to {{w|carbonic anhydrase}} expression. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 23:13, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::::::Are there enough dissolved minerals in the ocean for that volume, assuming {{w|diatom}}s intended to sink to the seabed? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 09:35, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

:Everyone thinks this is about pharmacology, and maybe it is. But I've been taking economics courses this semester, so that's what I think of. "We can't measure this factor directly, so we made up a formula that should let us calculate it (if we've measured all relevant factors correctly and all our other assumptions and theories are valid)" is a pretty common thing in that field. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 18:14, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:: What's the best example, using GDP as a proxy for development? Or something current like using the money supply as a proxy for inflation? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 20:19, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

:This is the remainder from below, apparently objected to:
::''Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists as they provide a way to indirectly monitor or improve the complex systems that affect their lives. For example, people use local temperature as a rough experiential proxy for the severity of global warming. Economists might mistake GDP for productive or useful development, or mistake the size of the {{w|money supply}} for {{w|price inflation}}. While correlated, the causation implied by such assumptions is very much in doubt, because the GDP increase of demolishing a hospital might conflict with the widespread understanding of development, and while the money supply size is a cause of inflation, there are many other causes.''
:But it's different from the original. Regardless of what my IP address may or may not suggest, I know the original objector to the earliest version does not object to this edited version, because that objector was and is me. However, I have not yet decided whether I think it should be in the explanation. I will let you know when it gets off the main page, like tomorrow, roughly in a day unless Monday morning continues its traditional trend of presenting unexpected immediate commitments. I have to run a long errand tomorrow so let's say Tuesdayish.
:My initial impulse is to add another paragraph from the climate discussion above, and propose it for a subsection or collapse box. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 14:35, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
::How about inserting: "The rate and conditions of {{w|carbonic anhydrase}} expression in genetically modified {{w|phytoplankton}}, such as {{w|diatom}}s intended to sink to the seabed, could be one of many partial proxies for carbon negative direct ocean removal. However, {{w|geoengineering}} success is difficult to measure, and harder to predict, because sometimes even small biological changes in one organism, like modulation of a gene, can have wide-ranging ecosystem
::Not sure where the paragraph break should be. If two paragraphs, try appending a subsection; if one, try the collapse box before the first title text paragraph. If people could contribute other interesting examples of proxies for carbon removal (I remember reading about a desalination process?) that would be awesome. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 14:53, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

;this dude keeps spamming

Sorry for the mild crassness, especially as a new user, but some Nazi f*ck is vandalizing the page. May someone please ban them?{{unsigned ip|172.71.26.59|03:49, 30 July 2022}}

Nah, they're using multiple IPs. Someone could semi-protect it or something but there ain't any mods doing their job it seems.{{unsigned ip|172.70.147.47|03:55, 30 July 2022}}

Where are the mods, anyways?{{unsigned ip|172.71.82.65|03:59, 30 July 2022}}
:You can't always count on volunteer authorities. Even us lowly IP address editors can revert vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.199|172.69.33.199]] 04:09, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::Yeah nah, we need it semi-protected {{unsigned ip|162.158.162.199|04:13, 30 July 2022}}
::: Funny if that were the goal of the vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.95|172.70.206.95]] 16:03, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:::: One reason that I don't think it should be the go-to counter-vandalism approach being used. But not for me to say. Whilstsoever I'm capable of intervening ''at least'' as much as any vandal tries to, I support the mod actions (they are there, doing things, BTW).
:::: Without actually tolerating the vandal, we easily outnumber the person concerned (and the very few other spammers/bots that sneak through the clearly effective existing speedbumps) and this means that such nuisance edits are heavily mitigated. If you see the damaged bits then you're either a regular or a very unlucky occasional visitor.
:::: (This morning, I went to revert an ad-spam that I noted had been written over a page-redirect, to be told that someone else had just gotten there before me!)
:::: I've been on far more abused online resources, both web (early days, long before CAPTCHA technology) and elsewhere (having seen how Usenet was both before and after The Eternal September) and the interference here is extraordinarily given the generally open nature of the submission process.
:::: PS. Please do sign your posts ( with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> ), if only for the timestamp that makes the to and fro of conversations more understandable... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.221|162.158.34.221]] 19:01, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:The rant gets replaced within two minutes of each revert. Presumably it's done by bot. We need a mod to take action. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 05:15, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
Article has been restored but some idiots keep spamming the page with random things. pls do something mods {{unsigned ip|172.70.147.47|03:59, 30 July 2022}}
:it's not "some idiots" it's all one person using different ips. he posted the exact same covid rant several times. i think he's schizophrenic or something and just really wants to be heard --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.40|172.69.69.40]] 04:39, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::But why here? Like, this is such a weird place to try and be heard, I'm sure even Reddit posts would have more visibility than edits to a webcomic wiki. [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 06:06, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::: Don't underestimate the importance of the can't-get-jokes demographic for PSYOP recruitment. The invasion of Panama might not even have occurred if it weren't for people distracted by cartoons. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.185|172.69.33.185]] 17:16, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:As one of the admin I can say that I only come here when I have time. Also I'm not as technically skilled as some of the others. But we all just do this as a hobby. At least we are now some active admins, after several years with none... I was just made admin recently. But I can see that both Theusa and Davidy22 has been active, and that Theusa has made some changes to his bot so it also can revert spam. Hope that helps. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:57, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2652:_Proxy_Variable&diff=291433&oldid=291400 The protected version has much less text than the last non-vandalized version.] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 20:02, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
: Re "The history of pharmaceutical research is largely a graveyard of failed proxy hypotheses." True, but someone should add that is the reason for experiment registration regulations. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 20:17, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm placing that version here, in hopes that it can be edited as a proxy for the protected version: [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.229|172.69.33.229]] 20:28, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
{{cot|Mostly approved (see above) non-vandalized version of the explanation, as further edited}}
In this comic, [[Hairy]] is discussing use of a proxy variable with [[Cueball]]. In statistics, a {{w|proxy variable}} is used as a stand-in for one or more other variables that are difficult to measure. In order to be useful as such, proxy variables must be correlated with what they are intended to represent. For example, a drug might aim to reduce deaths from a slow-acting disease. But testing if it reduces deaths might take many years, so researchers might test for a proxy outcome instead, like whether it results in loss of bone density or damage to cells. Physicians use blood pressure as one of many proxies for cardiovascular health.

Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists as they provide a way to indirectly monitor or improve the complex systems that affect their lives. For example, people use local temperature as a rough experiential proxy for the severity of global warming. Economists might mistake GDP for productive or useful development, or mistake the size of the {{w|money supply}} for {{w|price inflation}}. While correlated, the causation implied by such assumptions is very much in doubt, because the GDP increase of demolishing a hospital might conflict with the widespread understanding of development, and while the money supply size is a cause of inflation, there are many other causes.

Hairy is dismissing the question of whether they are studying the right variable as too expensive to answer. This is deeply ironic and thus satirical, because good {{w|experiment design}} requires sufficient attention to the robustness of all the involved parts of an experiment, even if the expense may be prohibitive. This comic might be referring to the recent discovery of [https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease nearly two decades] of fraudulent {{w|Alzheimer's disease}} research based on a mistaken proxy hypothesis.

Choosing the wrong proxy variable might make the research misleading, irrelevant, or as the title text suggests, answer the wrong question. Separating correlation from {{w|Causality|causation}} is necessary when interpreting proxy variable results to make sure the question they answer is known. Mere correlation instead of {{w|Causal analysis|authentic causation}} yields weaker results. {{w|Exploratory causal analysis}} can assist with finding useful proxy variables, but is difficult for the layperson to interpret and can be misleading, because even if performed correctly, a {{w|combinatorial explosion}} of possible proxy variables can make traditional {{w|statistical significance}} analysis fail, requiring {{w|F-score}}s or similar measures. The history of pharmaceutical research is largely a graveyard of failed proxy hypotheses; that is one of the reasons for [https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/manage-recs/fdaaa experiment registration regulations.]

The title text's notion of having an answer without knowing the actual question could also be be a reference to the classic comedy science fiction novel {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, where in one scene Earth turns out to be a supercomputer built for the purpose of figuring out the question for the answer "42."
{{cob}}
:That such improvements are withheld from the main public view must feel like a victory for the vandal. Can autoconfimed users promote it? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 23:08, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
::I have added the above except the "Proxy variables are of interest to non-scientists" part as there was someone explaining why this was removed above here. I will thus not be the one putting it back in.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:57, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

Is anyone going to comment that all of us IP editors are listed by our CDN proxy address? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.123|172.69.33.123]] 20:44, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

2022-07-29T05:01:22Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ ambiguous term

{{comic
| number = 2651
| date = July 27, 2022
| title = Air Gap
| image = air_gap.png
| titletext = You can still do powerline networking, but the bitrate does drop a little depending on the lightbulb warmup and cooldown delay.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AIR GAP-PROTECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic conflates the concepts of computer network security and home electrical power safety to comical effect, resulting in a deeply impractical and ineffective proposed solution. In {{w|computer security}}, {{w|Air_gap_(networking)|air-gapping}} is a measure used to secure sensitive computers or networks of computers by isolating them from the broader internet, since computers are often breached through the internet. {{w|Energy security}} is the concern, typically expressed at a national, rather than domestic, level, with ensuring sufficient affordable and reliable sources of energy to meet demand. It has become an increasingly pressing issue due to the use of energy supplies as a geopolitical tool, exacerbated by the drive to reorient energy generation away from polluting fossil fuels. {{w|Lightning protection}} is a home fire safety practice. {{w|Power analysis}} in computer security is a form of {{w|side-channel attack}} where the attacker observes and/or manipulates the power use by a device for some reason — for example, to gain insight into an otherwise protected process, or to exfiltrate information without having to use a monitored network connection. Power analysis in fire safety is means measuring the {{w|power factor}}, volts, and watts of electrical circuits.

[[Randall]] suggests increasing the security of your home power supply by air-gapping it, using the light from a powered lightbulb to power a solar panel which then supplies power to the home, such that there is no physical wired connection between your house and the public electricity network. This is a large and very inefficient version of an {{w|opto-isolator}}, but would protect equipment behind the solar panel from power surges such as lightning strikes (which in an improperly {{w|Ground (electricity)|grounded}} home could blow out the light bulb, but not so easily risk frying the equipment beyond the photovoltaic cell and its inverter). Due to its inefficiency, this approach would waste significant amounts of energy, and therefore actually worsen problems of energy security.

The title text mentions that a computer can still be connected to the internet via the power supply by using {{w|powerline networking}}, but that the bandwidth would be reduced by the lightbulb's warmup and cooldown delay, which would reduce the signalling rate the lightbulb could accomplish. However, this is incorrect, as the solar panel cannot emit signals, and an unidirectional link is useless for traditional networking, because necessary requests and acknowledgments would be unable to travel from behind the solar panel to the lightbulb. Early {{w|communication satellite}} systems for data networking used high bandwidth unidirectional {{w|downlink}}s paired with low bandwidth ground telephone lines for outbound transmission, but such network configurations remain very uncommon.{{cn}}

Randall is seemingly unaware of {{w|isolation transformer}}s which serve to allow the transfer of power via changing {{w|electromagnetic field}}s without an electrically conductive path. Most transformers, including "wall wart" power adapters, provide this form of isolation and protect devices from noise, voltage transients, most surges, and shock hazard, with fuses and other circuitry.

===Why this would be inefficient and impractical===

* Even energy-efficient LED lightbulbs are only about 35% efficient at turning electricity into light, with the rest emitted as heat.
* The air gap is inefficient at passing light from the bulb to the panel, causing some of the light from the lightbulb to be lost to places other than the solar panel, such as to the eye of the observer. A rough guess might be that in the configuration shown less than 60% of light produced will reach the panel, even assuming a perfect reflector.
* Solar panels are generally around 20% efficient at converting light into electricity, with claims at the world record from a single light source at around 40%.

All these efficiency-reducing factors, and others, multiply together. Therefore, only a small fraction of energy would be transmitted between the two ends of the air gap, making the circuit require much more electricity and be much less cost-efficient. (for instance the generous assumptions above lead to 96% of the power being lost)

The solution as illustrated shows a single apparently-normal lightbulb, the highest-powered of which use under 50 Watts of power. Given the above efficiency issues, it would provide less than five Watts of power to a home which would typically require over a thousand Watts.

==Transcript==
:[A solar panel and a lamp are pictured together, with the lamp pointed at the solar panel, and electronic equipment connected to the solar panel. Lines point outward from the bulb, indicating that it is shining.]
:[Caption below the panel]
:Energy tip: Increase the security of your home power supply by installing an air gap.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Computer security]]

Talk:2651: Air Gap

2022-07-29T03:33:08Z

172.70.214.43: Incandescent

2651: Air Gap

2022-07-28T16:17:01Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ his eminence

{{comic
| number = 2651
| date = July 27, 2022
| title = Air Gap
| image = air_gap.png
| titletext = You can still do powerline networking, but the bitrate does drop a little depending on the lightbulb warmup and cooldown delay.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AIR GAP-PROTECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic conflates the concepts of computer network security and home electrical power safety, resulting in a deeply impractical and ineffective proposed solution. In {{w|computer security}}, {{w|Air_gap_(networking)|air-gapping}} is a measure used to secure sensitive computers or networks of computers by isolating them from the broader internet, since computers are often breached through the internet. {{w|Energy security}} is the concern, typically expressed at a national, rather than domestic, level, with ensuring sufficient affordable and reliable sources of energy to meet demand. It has become an increasingly pressing issue due to the use of energy supplies as a geopolitical tool, exacerbated by the drive to reorient energy generation away from polluting fossil fuels. {{w|Lightning protection}} is a home fire safety practice.

[[Randall]] suggests increasing the security of your home power supply by air-gapping it, using the light from a powered lightbulb to power a solar panel which then supplies power to the home, such that there is no physical wired connection between your house and the public electricity network. This is a large and very inefficient version of an {{w|opto-isolator}}, but would protect equipment behind the solar panel from power surges such as lightning strikes (which in an improperly {{w|Ground (electricity)|grounded}} home could blow out the light bulb, but not so easily risk frying the equipment beyond the photovoltaic cell and its inverter). Due to its inefficiency, this approach would waste significant amounts of energy, and therefore actually worsen problems of energy security.

The title text mentions that a computer can still be connected to the internet via the power supply by using {{w|powerline networking}}, but that the bandwidth would be reduced by the lightbulb's warmup and cooldown delay, which would reduce the signalling rate the lightbulb could accomplish. However, this is incorrect, as the solar panel cannot emit signals, and an unidirectional link is useless for traditional networking, because necessary requests and acknowledgments would be unable to travel from behind the solar panel to the lightbulb. Early {{w|communication satellite}} systems for data networking used high bandwidth unidirectional {{w|downlink}}s paired with low bandwidth ground telephone lines for outbound transmission, but such network configurations remain very uncommon.{{cn}}

Randall is seemingly unaware of {{w|Isolation transformer|isolation transformers}} which serve to allow the transfer of power via changing {{w|electromagnetic field}}s without an electrically conductive path. Most transformers, including "wall wart" power adapters, provide this form of isolation and protect devices from noise, voltage transients, most surges, and shock hazard, with fuses and other circuitry.

===Why this would be inefficient and impractical===

* Even energy-efficient LED lightbulbs are only about 35% efficient at turning electricity into light, with the rest emitted as heat.
* The air gap is inefficient at passing light from the bulb to the panel, causing some of the light from the lightbulb to be lost to places other than the solar panel, such as to the eye of the observer. A rough guess might be that in the configuration shown less than 60% of light produced will reach the panel, even assuming a perfect reflector.
* Solar panels are generally around 20% efficient at converting light into electricity, with claims at the world record from a single light source at around 40%.

All these efficiency-reducing factors, and others, multiply together. Therefore, only a small fraction of energy would be transmitted between the two ends of the air gap, making the circuit require much more electricity and be much less cost-efficient.

The solution as illustrated shows a single apparently-normal lightbulb, the highest-powered of which use under 50 Watts of power. Given the above efficiency issues, it would provide less than five Watts of power to a home which would typically require over a thousand Watts.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A solar panel and a lamp are pictured together, with the lamp pointed at the solar panel, and electronic equipment connected to the solar panel.]
:[Caption] Security tip: Increase the security of your home power supply by installing an air gap.
{{comic discussion}}

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T14:56:50Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ wikilinked already in previous paragraph

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAUX VECTOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of these would provide any real advantages even when possible to implement. It continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Obtaining money from physics experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|[[File:Torque animation.gif|frame|right|Relationship of pseudovectors {{w|torque}} ('''τ''') and {{w|angular momentum}} ('''L''') to "regular" Euclidian vectors {{w|Position (vector)|position}} ('''r'''), {{w|force}} ('''F'''), and linear {{w|momentum}} ('''p''') in an oscillatory rotating system. Not shown is the {{w|centripetal force}} of the spoke's {{w|Tension (physics)|tension}}, a Euclidian vector towards the axle proportional to linear momentum, converting it to angular momentum.]]

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct from regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, in three dimensions, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector, labeled '''L''' in the comic, {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude equal to the angular velocity of rotation '''ω''' multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} '''I'''. (The comic's diagram is drawn according to very uncommon {{w|Right-hand rule#Coordinates|left-handed coordinates}} instead of the standard {{w|right-hand rule}}. Randall is right-handed.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tcyEo2tQk&t=28s])
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two ionized hydrogen atoms, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosions mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text, Randall claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons because of the instant massive explosions caused by its radioactive decay. He jokes they violated a local ordinance. Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and similar events, but they are filled with helium-4 and therefore inert. A balloon filled with helium-2 is a practical impossibility because of its sub-nanosecond half-life. Assuming a 12-inch diameter balloon at 1 atmosphere of pressure, the balloon-bomb would have a yield of roughly 18 {{w|TNT equivalent|tons of TNT equivalent}}.

{{cot|[[User:SqueakSquawk4|Calcuations]]}}
{{User:SqueakSquawk4}} 
{{cob}}

The smallest nuclear bomb, the {{w|W54}}, had a yield of between 10 and 1,000 tons of TNT. The largest conventional bomb, the {{w|GBU-43/B MOAB}}, has a yield of roughly 11 tons. The {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was roughly equivalent to 500 tons of TNT.[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00193-021-00992-1] So, while the helium-2 balloon bomb would be larger than all conventional bombs, it would still be smaller than most nukes. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with any surviving local authorities, so merely being banned is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely if it weren't for the absurd impossibility of the scenario.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-23T03:26:47Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ some of these are for theoreticians

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics cost saving tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAUX VECTOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic continues the previous comic [[2648: Chemicals]]'s jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Here is a list of "cost-saving tips" which would seem to reduce a cost or provide something for free, allowing physicists to save money in their research.

* The prefix "pseudo-" refers to something that is an inauthentic variation of something else. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to regular polar vectors, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of polar vectors, and while similar to polar vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular velocity}} is described by a pseudovector (labeled 'L' in the comic) {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude proportional to the velocity ('ω') of rotation.

* {{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.

* Chemical elements are identified by the number of positive protons in each atomic nucleus, which is also equal to the number of negative electrons in the shell (unless the atom is ionized) that dictates most of their chemical behaviour. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutral neutrons in the nucleus where the potential chemical reactions are practically identical under most circumstances. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose so, in theory, if you're purchasing matter by weight, and all isotypes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a high concentration of normally rare isotypes, such as "heavy water" or "enriched uranium", is much higher than the cost of material containing isotypes in their ordinary proportions. (One exception is depleted uranium, which can be obtained more cheaply than regular uranium, because it is a waste product from the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, the right number of neutrons are needed to keep the atom stable, and atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is Helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} with a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.

: Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events. However, these are usually Helium-4, and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be rather explosive. Handing out what are effectively bombs at a county fair would likely not go down well with local authorities, and therefore being banned from the fair is a very light punishment. Anyone who did this in real life would likely face criminal charges, such as reckless endangerment or even attempted murder.

* {{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons which are not tightly bound to specific atoms, so are ably to ''move'' freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of {{w|metallic bond}}s. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by this pun.

Getting money from science experiments like this was also mentioned in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (little omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-23T03:25:38Z

2022-07-22T06:05:11Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG ISOMER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions to [[Cueball]] that their company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the {{w|empirical formula}} C6H5NO2, which designates [https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=C6H5NO2 hundreds of compounds] including {{w|nitrobenzene}}, {{w|niacin}}, {{w|isonicotinic acid}}, and {{w|picolinic acid}}, followed by their component elements listed with prices. The ambiguity of chemical formulae is one of the jokes in the comic.

While many expensive chemicals are composed entirely of inexpensive and commonly available elements, "assembling" those elements into specific molecules is rarely a simple task, especially considering the complexity and specificity required. That work is the primary purpose of the global chemical industry. In-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is usually not cost effective because end users are often unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] However, we don't know whether Megan and Cueball work in a laboratory, factory, or some other industrial setting. If they need chemicals in bulk, synthesizing them might be cost effective, though it remains a complex and exacting process.

In any case, producing chemicals from their constituent elements or {{w|Precursor (chemistry)|precursor compound}}s is difficult and time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] {{w|Nitrobenzene}}, one of the C6H5NO2 compounds, is an excellent example because it is explosive and extremely toxic, and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer Cueball's question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. He and Megan appear to be envisioning 'assembling' chemicals as a much simpler process, perhaps akin to snapping together Legos or pieces of a model kit, where there is no reactivity, no energy release, and no hazardous intermediate chemicals. The characters' naivety also gives rise to the humor of the comic, which may also be mocking DIY lifehacks where the cost savings only make sense if their massive time investment is ignored. "Big Molecule" is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]], and amusing in its own right.

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]]. It may also refer to the decline of home {{w|chemistry set}}s popular in the 1960s and '70s that encouraged kids to experiment with basic chemical reactions like generating esters or polymers, or the even older decline in home manufacture of gunpowder as was common in the 1800s.

This comic may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in individual molecules] by modifying their bonds.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Zoom in on Megan who is holding piece of paper up in one hand. The paper has a large chemical formula at the top. Below is a list of the atoms needed, with amount and a price tag in dollars but with unreadable amount. There is a sum total at the bottom beneath a line.]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:Paper:
::<big>C6H5NO2</big>
::Carbon 6 $...
::Hydrogen 5 $...
::Nitrogen 1 $...
::Oxygen 2 $...
::Total 14 $...

:[Cueball is now on the left of Megan as she is walking past him to the right holding her arms outstretched with her palms up.]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-22T06:02:48Z

172.70.214.43: /* Explanation */ fix typo

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG ISOMER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions to [[Cueball]] that their company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the {{w|empirical formula}} C6H5NO2, which designates [https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=C6H5NO2 hundreds of compounds] including {{w|nitrobenzene}}, {{w|niacin}}, {{w|isonicotinic acid}}, and {{w|picolinic acid}}, followed by their component elements listed with prices. The ambiguity of chemical formulae is one of the jokes in the comic.

While many expensive chemicals are composed entirely of inexpensive and commonly available elements, "assembling" those elements into specific molecules is rarely a simple task, especially considering the complexity and specificity required. That work is the primary purpose of the global chemical industry. In-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is usually not cost effective because end users are often unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] However, we don't know whether Megan and Cueball work in a laboratory, factory, or some other industrial setting. If they need chemicals in bulk, synthesizing them might be cost effective, though it remains a complex and exacting process.

In any case, producing chemicals from their constituent elements or {{w|Precursor (chemistry)|precursor compound}}s is difficult and time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] {{w|Nitrobenzene}}, one of the C6H5NO2 compounds, is an excellent example because it is explosive and extremely toxic, and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer Cueball's question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. He and Megan appear to be envisioning 'assembling' chemicals as a much simpler process, perhaps akin to snapping together Legos or pieces of a model kit, where there is no reactivity, no energy release, and no hazardous intermediate chemicals. The characters' naivety also gives rise to the humor of the comic, which may also be mocking DIY lifehacks where the cost savings only make sense if their massive time investment is ignored. "Big Molecule" is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]], and amusing in its own right.

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]]. It may also refer to the decline in home chemistry sets that were popular in the 1960s and 70s which encouraged kids to do basic chemical reactions like generating esters or polymers, or (even older) a decline in home manufacture of gunpowder as was common in the 1800s.

This comic may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in individual molecules] by modifying their bonds.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Zoom in on Megan who is holding piece of paper up in one hand. The paper has a large chemical formula at the top. Below is a list of the atoms needed, with amount and a price tag in dollars but with unreadable amount. There is a sum total at the bottom beneath a line.]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:Paper:
::<big>C6H5NO2</big>
::Carbon 6 $...
::Hydrogen 5 $...
::Nitrogen 1 $...
::Oxygen 2 $...
::Total 14 $...

:[Cueball is now on the left of Megan as she is walking past him to the right holding her arms outstretched with her palms up.]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]